


Playing the Game

by Oop



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: (and then blushes about it) god he's cute, Banter, Fluff, M/M, Moonshadow Farm, and incredibly horny, he canonically says the most thirsty things, i love alex so much and i feel like he's way too underappreciated, like yes he's a jerk at the beginning but he's so sweet and wonderful, that's it: it's just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28386222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oop/pseuds/Oop
Summary: Sometimes it’s about playing the game all the way to the end even when you already know the outcome. And Alex does love to play, even if he’s already got the win in the bag.
Relationships: Alex/Adric, Alex/Male Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 86





	Playing the Game

**Author's Note:**

> please love Alex with me

There’s nothing quite like sipping a freshly brewed cup of coffee on the porch while watching Adric work the field just in front of the house. Yeah, Moonshadow Farm still has a long way to go (when Alex had finally thought to ask about future plans, Adric had happily laid them all out; Alex had been a little overwhelmed just listening, but Adric had only grinned and said, “Don’t worry. We have all the time in the world!”), but, as Alex continues to remind himself, it’s the simple things that make all the struggle worth it. 

Things like watching his husband push his dark hair- early gray peeking at the roots around his temples- out of his face, his entire body gleaming with sweat even though it can’t be later than nine in the morning. Adric leans on the hoe, breathing hard, and whips a playful, accusatory look at Alex, still standing on the porch. Alex doesn’t even pretend to feel guilty.

“Are you just going to watch all day?”

Gesturing out toward the barns, Alex says, “Can you blame me when the view is _this_ good?” They both know he’s not talking about the farm. (Although he has told Adric many times that he truly does love to look out over the farm and appreciate all the hard work that’s gone into it, especially knowing that he’s contributed.)

Adric shakes his head, but smiles, winks. “View’s not so bad from down here, either.” He straightens up, stretching his arms over his head. Alex nearly chokes on his coffee. “But the  _ best _ view would be a field full of melons.”

“I’ve never known you to enjoy looking at melons,” Alex jokes, unable to resist such an easy set-up. Maybe he’s predictable, but Adric still laughs. 

“Okay, funny guy. Would you quit pretending to drink that coffee and come help me?”

“And what do I get out of it?”

“Melons,” Adric deadpans. 

Alex gives him a flat look. They both know that he’s apathetic about fruit as a whole. “Try again.”

Blowing out a puff of air, Adric says. “Melon wine?  _ Money _ from melon wine?” 

“That’s going to be  _ weeks _ from now.” Possibly entire _seasons_. Alex has always admired Adric’s forethought, his ability to look at melon seeds in the late spring and make a plan for melon wine that won’t be ready, made and then properly aged to the highest quality, until mid-fall at the earliest. Alex himself is good at setting long-term goals, good at working for what he wants (both traits that Adric helped him realize he possessed), but he doesn’t  _ want _ melons. He  _ does _ want the farm to be successful, and he  _ does _ want to help Adric’s plans come to fruition, but, “I’m looking for some instant gratification here.”

“Oh,” Adric says. “Is that all? I promise I’ll gratify you as much as you want once all these damn melons are planted. Is that sufficient?”

It’s sufficient to make all of the blood Alex possesses soar straight into his face, which feels hot enough to power one of their furnaces. “Yeah,” he says, unable to help how his voice goes all weird before he clears his throat. “Yeah, that’s- Yeah. That’s, uh,  _ fine _ .”

Adric’s smile goes soft and fond around the edges as Alex chugs the rest of his coffee and then hops down from the porch to grab the spare hoe that Adric had left out. They both knew from the beginning that Alex was going to help but sometimes it’s about playing the game all the way to the end even when you already know the outcome. And Alex does love to play, even if he’s already got the win in the bag. 

(Or, more precisely, he has the win in a flawless mermaid pendant around his neck.) 

**Author's Note:**

> I did want to mention that I included Moonshadow Farm and Adric in the tags because I started like three fics at the same time and they're all the same... what would you call it? Game file? Setting? So if you're interested in more content in this setting/with this farmer, those are tags to watch. :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
